Live shopping isn’t coming—it’s already here

So what is it that makes live shopping special in the first place? The format, which combines video and commerce, has three important benefits: storytelling, intimacy, authenticity

In fact, Singles Day has already produced one remarkable stat from October 21st: Alibaba sold a staggering $1.1 billion in merchandise in 30 minutes through its Taobao Live video service. That’s $36.7 million in sales happening every minute through live video shopping streams from internet celebrity influencers. To put that number in perspective, Q... See more

The lower funnel transactions do end up eventually happening even in the US market from online live shopping. They just end up happening later, indirectly, and mostly outside of the video experience.

As commerce consultant Rick Watson eloquently says, online live shopping represents “the entire purchase funnel in one place”.

In addition to both being created by independent game studios, Fall Guys and Among Us also shared another common characteristic: they both owe their breakout success to live shopping

And these 3 benefits match exactly to a traditional purchasing funnel that maps out the steps a customer goes through when conducting commerce: awareness, consideration, transaction

And that brings us to authenticity and the key difference currently between the China market and the US market for online live shopping: authenticity doesn’t solve an acute problem in the US. In both China and the US, live shopping provides tremendous user value with its storytelling and intimacy benefits. But only in China has the the authenticity... See more